Chapter Text
Guillermo sat in his room on the cot that was once again his bed, trying to distract himself from the gnawing misery in his guts. He had dedicated the past thirteen years of his life to being Nandor's familiar and for what? He had achieved his dream of becoming a vampire only to choose to be human. Now he was regretting his choice. Did he absolutely have to kill? The others didn't always kill the humans they fed on... maybe he could master hypnosis and just feed a little on different humans every night? Maybe...
The sun was starting to set, meaning it would soon be time to wake Nandor and spend yet another night taking the low blows and nasty jabs from the others. Perfect.
"Master, the sun has set." He said quietly, knowing Nandor hated being wakened suddenly. "...Master? Come on, Master, it's time to get up..." he kept coaxing, but it felt forced. Now that his dream of becoming a vampire was effectively dead, there just seemed to be no point in continuing to be a familiar. Maybe Nadja could take him to the familiar clinic and have him put down.
Nandor threw open the lid of his coffin and sat up with a yawn. "Gooood evening, Guillermo. Have you made any progress sorting out the tree in the library?"
"I've found three possible contractors who can do the work, Master." Guillermo’s voice was soft and throaty, a sure sign he was upset.
"Good... Guillermo? Look at me? What is the matter?'
"It's... it's nothing. I didn't sleep well. Are you going hunting tonight?"
"It is not nothing." Nandor climbed out of his coffin and tilted Guillermo's face up to his, examining him in the dim light of the oil lamps. "Guillermo, I know something is wrong. You have not been yourself since... well, since the ceremony. You are not regretting your choice, are you?"
"No.... yes... I don't know. It's just..."
"Tell me." His voice was layered with hypnosis, not because he thought it would accomplish anything, but from habit.
"I spent over a decade being your servant so that I could be a vampire. I got my wish and I reversed it! Now why am I even here? What's the point of staying?"
His words cut Nandor deeply, though he would never show it. "Oh, Guillermo, is that all? I thought you took pride in your work. Isn't that what you humans like?"
"No! And... I can't have a normal life looking after you! I TRIED dating, and we know how THAT went. I haven't seen my family in months. I can't have hobbies. I-"
"Well, Guillermo, if you wish to hand me your resignation, then you are free to do so." His long hair falling over his face concealed the brief pinched look of pain. He didn't WANT Guillermo to leave. He found the house was always lonely without him.
"No, Master... It's not that... I... I don't know what I want."
"Well, then think about it on your own time. I need you to finish the repairs to the house. We are going to have guests next full moon."
"Next full moon, Master!? That's in, like-" Guillermo checked his phone, "only two more weeks! There's no way-"
"Thank you, Guillermo." Nando waved over his shoulder and he strode out of the room. There were no guests, but keeping familiars busy was a tried and true way to keep them happy.
***
Guillermo scowled as he sat on hold. Normally he would wait until the morning to make calls to contractors, instead of using the expensive emergency services, but Nandor's demands had made it necessary to find someone to start working on the house that very night. Collin Robertson must have sensed the frustration, because he was hovering on the stairs. Guillermo might have protested, but Collin was also the one who managed the household finances, so he was accidentally useful.
"Staten Building and Supply, Sean speaking, how can I help ya today?"
Guillermo recognized the voice. "Sean! Hey! It's Guillermo. Nandor told-"
"Heeey! Guillermo! How are ya buddy!"
Guillermo wasn't in the mood for being friendly, but it was impossible to be rude to someone who was always so happy (and, at least in this case, useful). "I've been better. Anyway, Nandor-"
"Not a lovers quarrel, I hope! Hey, buddy, if you need a couch to sleep on for the night, you know you're always welcome in my man-cave!"
Collin Robinson's eyes glowed cobalt blue as Guillermo turned beet red. "No! Nothing like that! We aren't even-! Ugh! Look, we need some work done on the house-"
"You sure do!"
"Can you come over and give it a look soon? Like tonight?"
"For you guys, I'll make it work!" Guillermo sighed in relief. Sean was so easily hypnotized, he could easily be made to ignore the coffins instead of beds...
"Thanks." He sighed. That was the worst of it taken care of. But... lovers quarrel!?
***
"House meeting" Nandor called "House meeting!"
"We're all already in the library, you dumb tit!" Nadja yelled back at him.
"Not Guillermo!"
"Oh, who the FUCK cares about the huuuuman!?"
"He is part of the group."
"Here I am!" Guillermo entered the room red faced and panting.
"Hello boy! Did we interrupt your wank?" Lazlo greeted him cheerfully.
"What? No! I was- never mind."
"Settle down now! Guillermo, stop distracting everyone."
"I wasn't-" he saw the look Nandor gave him and decided it was better to just back into the corner and sulk there.
"Guillermo has arranged for Sean and his company to perform repairs on the house. He says we will need to move out during, so we will all need to pack up our coffins and anything that might reveal us to the humans." He waited for the group to make their noises of protest and frustration. "We will also need to hypnotize all the workers to ensure that none of them remember seeing anything unusual."
"So how the hell are we going to do that? We can't have someone out and about, walking around with them in the daylight-"
"No! Of course not." Nadja interrupted her husband. "I say we all just move out. If the humans find anything suspicious, then they can blame Guillermo. Maybe he goes to jail, maybe he gets the death penalty, who cares!?"
"We are NOT leaving Guillermo to get arrested by the human police!" Nandor shouted back at her. Their squabble dissolved into a hissing match until Lazlo broke in.
"Nandor, just hang around while they all arrive and hypnotize them into not remembering anything unusual. Spend the day hiding in the basement as a bat then fly to the motel at night."
"Fine.” Nadja clapped her hands, as though she was the one in charge of the meeting. “That's settled, then."
"Wait!" Guillermo burst in. "What about the important company you were expecting?"
Nadja and Laszlo looked at each other in confusion. Nandor spoke with a slight wince. "There was never any company. I just wanted you to hurry with the repairs."
Guillermo scowled and began mentally writing his resignation letter.
***
Guillermo settled the vampires in a cheap motel, chosen by Lazlo for its general sketchiness, lack of staff interest and proximity to the red light district. Nadja and Nandor hated it, Collin liked the general beige colour scheme and Guillermo decided it was close enough to his mother's apartment that he would just sleep there at night while the vampires were running around, while keeping watch during the day. The work was scheduled to take two months, so Guillermo had moved all his things back to his mother's place, as it also helped him prepare to quit Nandor's service while giving him the ability to make up his mind at his own pace.
***
Life out of the motel was pretty much the same as life in the house. They had adjoining rooms with Nadja and Laszlo taking one room, Nandor and Colin taking the other, but they almost always left the doors open. "Codependent mess." Guillermo thought when he saw it. He spent his days mostly hanging out in the room, running the odd errand and being scolded for asinine reasons. At least finding a new dry cleaner for the time being proved to be easier than anticipated, as the area was also home to a lot of Broadway aspiring theater types, everyone just assumed the vampires' clothing was costumes.
The drudgery of their day to day life, the bickering and the constant taking their frustrations out on Guillermo began to really wear through the last of his patience to the point where he began to snap back with some regularity. He wasn't going to abandon his friends in the middle of a major life upheaval, but he had decided that, once they were settled back into the house, he would give Nandor his notice and figure out what the hell he was going to do with the rest of his life.
***
The repairs to the house were nearing completion and it was to be the last time Guillermo would be dropping off their drycleaning from the new place, chosen because it was 24/7 and didn't ask too many questions. Guillermo assumed it was some kind of front or money laundering scheme or something, but he wasn't exactly hanging out with legally sound folks either, so he could look away too.
Perhaps it was how often he brought things in, perhaps it was the rich quality of the clothes, or perhaps it was just a coincidence, but after Guillermo made it a block away, a man he didn't notice had been following him ran to catch up and shoved him into a back alley.
"What the fu-" Guellermo started to say as he tried to climb to his feet, but a boot kicked him and another one planted itself on his chest, threatening to break his ribs if he struggled.
"Your wallet. Now."
Fuck. He was being mugged. Ironic that he could take out a whole theatre of blood thirsty vampires, but some common street thugs got the better of him. "It's in my back pocket." He said through gritted teeth, wondering if he should try to invite them back to the motel room, but decided against it, as the vampires might be out.
"Get it."
Guillermo reached behind him, but as he did so, the knife Nandor left in his pile of laundry, that Guillermo had grabbed at the dry cleaners, fell out of his pocket. He glanced down at it, as a reflex, but the muggers didn't see it that way.
Five shots rang out through the darkness. Guillermo didn't really feel them, but he noticed the metallic taste of his own blood as it frothed from between his lips as he struggled to breathe.
He heard someone calling to him, telling him to hold on, then sirens, then… nothing.